Chalk River Laboratories Demonstration of Slowpoke-2 Fuel Fabrication for HEU Core Conversions

Abstract

As part of the Global Threat Reduction Initiative, highly-enriched uranium-fuelled reactors located at civilian sites worldwide are being converted to use low-enriched uranium fuel. SLOWPOKE-2 research reactors were originally designed to use highly-enriched uranium fuel and some of the operating reactors have yet to be converted to low-enriched uranium fuel. The Chalk River Advanced Fuel Technology sections at Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. have developed processes to fabricate low-enriched uranium cores for the SLOWPOKE-2 reactor. This paper briefly describes the development of pellet fabrication and element fabrication activities for low-enriched uranium SLOWPOKE-2 cores, and highlights AECL’s capabilities in this field.